One of the flagship fine arts events of the 2023 programme year is the House of Arts Veszprém, which is experiencing its most active period to date as a result of the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture (VEB2023 ECOC) programme. In the spring and early summer, the programme will be enriched with new and unique events and new venues. Soon, the f|x|r exhibition space and media lab will open, we can visit the international exhibitions of the Balaton EYE photography residency programme, and also meet many Hungarian artists.
On 29 March 2023, the House of Arts Veszprém revealed its new exhibitions for the next three months.
In April, János Géczi will be opening a solo exhibition titled immu Pets of the artist’s décollages from the past decade. Géczi will later be a guest at the House of Arts with his poems and the Forte Company.
Women’s role in art is a priority theme at the institution throughout the year. In January, women from the László Vass Collection presented their work at the Structural Harmonies exhibition, and in the spring, two more exhibitions will focus on the theme.
From 15 April, the exhibition titled Liquid Slices of Time can be viewed, which features works by female artists from the contemporary art collection of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (National Bank of Hungary). In addition to the masters of the neo-avant-garde, the youngest generation of artists will also be represented in the collection. Also opening on 15 April, the PHOTOTAX series will focus on female body portraiture. This highly anticipated exhibition explores the biological and social aspects of the female body and its future implications through the work of six young female photographers.
The natural environment of Veszprém and the Bakony-Lake Balaton region in different seasons, times of the day, and weather conditions, presents an incredibly varied picture, which has called the AIR (Artist in Residence) programme elements into existence. At the House of Arts in Veszprém, we can now see works inspired by the special environment through the lenses of international and Hungarian contemporary photographers: the BALATON EYE – residency programme for photographers culminates with five exhibitions in June. The works of Noémie Goudall (F), Dafna Talmour (GB), Ábel Szalontai, Dezső Szabó, and Csaba Toroczkai capture and present the region of the European Capital of Culture to visitors.
Also in June, Eric Kessels, and Thomas Mainlaender’s Europe Archive project, which aims to create a collective memory, will be presented for the first time in Europe. The objects in the exhibition are sourced by artists at flea markets across Europe: in November 2022 they also visited the Polish market in Veszprém to enrich their collection.
In June, f|x|r a new exhibition space and media lab will open at the House of Arts in Veszprém. With the support of the VEB2023 ECOC programme, the old Várkert restaurant and its surroundings in Veszprém will be given a completely new form and, among its many other functions, an exhibition space will be created that will be suitable for 3D interactive projections using all walls, as well as for traditional installation exhibitions, and even a mixture of both. Two well-equipped project rooms will also be set up to host digital art masterclasses and workshops. The title of the first exhibition in the new venue is NYX where Marcell Andristyák’s interactive audiovisual installation will be presented.
In addition to contemporary fine art, literature will also be featured in the spring-summer programme. During the nationwide series of events called Festive Book Week, there will be book launches, meet the author events, and literary evenings in Veszprém as well, while on the Gizella Days (T/N: tradition holds that Gisella of Hungary, the wife of Stephen I of Hungary, founded the city of Veszprém; she is certainly buried there) the programme called The Street of Literature – literature of the street will also feature city walks with writers and poets, and My city, your city, our city will also organise round-table discussions and workshops with literary figures from Veszprém’s twin towns.
